Best PlacesSpanaway, WA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Spanaway, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Spanaway ranks 1,330th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Spanaway
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Spanaway's strengths and weaknesses
Where Spanaway ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of cities
- QuietBetter than 89% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 75% of cities
- Household income$108,878 median, better than 66% of cities
Where Spanaway ranks low
- Short commute38.1 minutes each way, better than only 2% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 9% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 11% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 15% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Spanaway
A household needs to earn about $119,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Spanaway home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $108,878; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Spanaway's effective rate of 0.92%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Spanaway
Spanaway runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Spanaway.
Who works in Spanaway, and how
Work in Spanaway centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Spanaway
Spanaway has more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. The coast is about 21 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Spanaway and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Spanaway, month by month
Spanaway sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 35. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 41° | 35° |
| April | 61° | 49° | 40° |
| July | 82° | 67° | 54° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Spanaway
Seattle-Tacoma International sits about 26 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 25.4 million passengers in 2025, with 172 nonstop destinations.
Spanaway measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Spanaway against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Spanaway suits
Common questions about living in Spanaway
Is Spanaway a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Spanaway ranks 1,330th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on clean air, quiet, and low taxes, and lowest on long commutes and state infrastructure. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Spanaway expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $447,809. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $108,878 median income, cost of living beats 57% of cities.
Is Spanaway safe?
Spanaway is safer than 44% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $468 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Spanaway?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 49 with lows near 35. That works out to about 90 pleasant days a year, more than 54% of cities.
Is Spanaway good for families?
Schools beat 29% of cities, crime safety beats 44%, and childcare runs $1,327 a month.
Compare Spanaway with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Spanaway. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Spanaway represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Spanaway detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Spanaway: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Spanaway: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Spanaway: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Spanaway: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Spanaway detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.